CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



4T 



ferred to is so very clever in executing his delicate work that he succeeded, 

 with one assistant, in rebudding 60 large trees in a single day. Several 

 buds were placed in a ring around the trunk of each tree 4 or 5 feet above 

 the ground and all wrapped at the same time with a single piece of tape. 

 "There," said he, "in 28 days take off the tape and one week later if the 

 buds are alive, just saw the tree square off right above them. They will 

 come out in a hurry and make fine new tops for your trees." "That seems 

 like rather drastic treatment," I said. "Is there not danger of killmg the 

 trees?" "Not at all, just do as I say and you will find that everything 

 will come out all right. Goodbye." 



In 28 days we removed the tape and found the buds in fine healthy 

 condition. One week later, the date set for the wholesale decapitation, we 

 had, despite our own misgivings and some advice by other experts, mus- 

 tered enough courage to cut off just one tree. This now has the most 

 beautiful top of any in my orchard. The buds in the other 59 eventually 

 died because of our nerve having failed us and the tops of the trees not be- 

 ing cut off as ordered. They were later cut back and top- worked by the 

 method first herein described and are now making fine new tops, though of 

 course some months behind the one tree before mentioned. Probably the 

 most valid objection, if there be a valid one, to the Pasadena method of 

 top-working, is that it brings the limbs all out in one place on the tree, op- 

 ponents of the plan holding this to be a weakness in the method. It is 

 argued that a better formed and stronger tree could be made by growing 

 a single bud in each of several limbs. This objection may be well founded, 

 though it would hardly seem so from the present appearance of my one tree. 

 In favor of the method may be urged speed, simplicity and cheapness. Un- 

 less the objection to the limbs all coming out in one place is a valid and 

 vital one, it seems to me that the Pasadena method of top-working is the 

 best. 



In our own experiments we have used in a small way still another 

 method which seems to give excellent results, namely, cutting the tree back 

 first and budding into the old wood just as the new shoots start. The tree 

 at that time being eager to grow and recover its lost top, seems to carry 

 the bud rapidly along with the other new growth. Also I believe that the 

 best time to move a tree "open root" is, not immediately after it has been 

 cut back, but just when the new shoots have started. 



Top-working by any of several methods is a very practical thing, al- 

 ways providing there is a strong foundation tree to work on, though it must 

 be said that some varieties are very much easier to make grow than others. 

 As a rule the ones easiest to bud have the greatest vitality and make the 

 most satisfactory trees, so the grower for more reasons than one should look 

 long and well before deciding. Don*t be in a hurry; we shall all know 

 more about varieties in two or three or four years than we do now. I think 

 the greatest obstacle to success and satisfaction in top-working will be found 

 in the grower's own impatience. I believe no tree should be top-worked 

 before it is four or five years old. It should be allowed first to make a 

 strong, straight trunk, say 6 or 8 inches in diameter. It is then able to sus- 

 tain a top and keep it off the ground, should the buds prove to be of limber 

 or droopy growth. Don't forget that your tree is growing all the time and 

 that you are really not losing much, if any, time by patiently waiting to be 



